1. Field
The present disclosure relates to butyraldehyde dehydrogenases, which are improved for efficient production of 1,4-BDO, and transformed strains containing the same, and methods of producing high-efficiency 1,4-BDO by using the transformed microorganism.
2. Description of the Related Art
1,4-Butanediol (1,4-BDO), as a solvent used annually about 130 million tons worldwide, is produced from petroleum-based substances such as acetylene, butane, propylene, and butadiene.
1,4-BDO is used throughout the chemical industry as a polymer, a solvent, or a fine chemical intermediate of a variety of chemicals. Currently, most chemical substances composed of 4 carbon atoms are derived from 1,4-BDO, maleic anhydride, or the like and are synthesized. However, as oil prices are increasing, the cost of production is also increasing, bringing attention to develop a complementary and an alternative process of chemical production. Herein, a biological process using a microorganism is presented as an alternative to the chemical production process.
Unlike the existing chemical methods, Genometica built a biosynthetic pathway of 1,4-BDO in 2011 by using succinyl-CoA synthetase gene (sucCD) from Clostridium kluyveri, CoA-dependent succinate semialdehyde dehydrogenase gene (sucD) from Porphyromonas gingivalis, NAD dependent 4-hydroxybutyrate dehydrogenase gene (4hbd) from P. gingivalis, 4-hydroxybutyryl CoA:acetyl-CoA transferase gene (cat2) from P. gingivalis, and alcohol dehydrogenase gene (adhE2) from Clostridium acetobutylicum within Escherichia coli (E. coli).
According to an embodiment, pathways that are already identified in E. coli are modified to construct a new biosynthetic pathway. For example, a microorganism is developed for efficient production of 1,4-BDO with a Bld mutant that is appropriate for the new pathway.